Fashioned knitted fabric with cable stitch and method of and apparatus for making same on a full fashioned knitting machine



June 21, 1966 E. J. BOUTILLETTE ETAL 3, 56

FASHIONED KNITTED FABRIC WITH CABLE STITCH AND METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SAME ON A FULL FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 30, 1963 '7 Sheets-Sheet l FIG.

EDWARD J. E XEWBIETTE ALFRED F. COPERTI NO BY June 1966 E. J. BOUTILLETTE ETAL FASHIONED KNITTED FABRIC WITH CABLE STITCH AND METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SAME ON A FULL FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 30, 1963 INVENTORS EDWARD J. BOUTI LLETTE ALFRED F. COPERTINO BY ATTORNEYS J1me 1966 E. J. BOUTILLETTE ETAL FASHIONED KNITTED FABRIC WITH CABLE STITCH AND METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SAME ON A FULL FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINE '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 30, 1965 E w mE o T WTE ww m JF. DD my WF DL EAY B ATTORNEYS June 1965 E. J. BOUTILLETTE ETAL 3,256,718

FASHIONED KNITTED FABRIC WITH CABLE STITCH AND METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SAME ON A FULL FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 30, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 QLLL INVENTORS EDWARD J BOUTILLETTE ALFRED F. COPERTINO WWW WN ATTORNEYS June 1966 E. J. BOUTILLETTE ETAL 3,

FASHIONED KNITTED FABRIC WITH CABLE STITCH AND METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SAME ON A FULL FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 50, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Q30 0 5'0 30 640 c d e a fcde cd bode a bode F|G.IO FIG. H

111 \W I? W W E H50 50 50 50; cdu b cd ob cd abe cdem cdeub .l8 FIG.|9 F|G.2O FIG. 2|

EDWARD J. BOUTILLETTE ALFRED F. COPERTINO b 1 NVEN TORS BY E A c 23 F G. 24 ATTORNEYS June 1966 E. J. BOUEILLETTE ETAL 3,256,718

FASHIONED KNITTED FABRIC WITH CABLE STITCH AND METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SAME ON A FULL FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet '7 Filed Sept. 50, 1963 INVENTORS EDWARD J. BOUTILLETTE BAYLFRED F. COPERTINO WWW ATTORNEYS United States Patent f FASHIONED KNITTED FABRIC WITH CABLE STITCH AND METHOD OF AND APPARA TUS FOR MAKING SAME ON A FULL FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINE Edward .7. Boutillette, Worcester, Mass., and Alfred E.

Copertino, Amherst, N.H., assignors to M.K.M. Knitting Mills, Inc., Manchester, NIL, a corporation of New Hampshire Filed Sept. 30, 1963, Ser. No. 312,712 6 Claims. (Cl. 66-96) This invention relates to a knitted fabric with a cable stitch and to a method of and apparatus for knitting such a fabric on a full fashioned knitting machine. The socalled cable stitch is made by causing a group of wales of a fabric which is being knitted to extend diagonally over and across an adjoining group of wales which extend diagonally under the first group of the other side thereof. The two groups are then joined side by side in one or more courses of plain knitting whereupon the operation of separating and crossing the groups may be repeated with the result that the effect of a multistrand cable is obtained.

This cable stitch is well known and can be done by hand-knitting and also.by certain hand-operated mechanisms. For certain purposes such as the commercial production of ladies sweaters, for example, it is highly desirable that the operation of making a cable stitch be performed on a full fashioned knitting machine which is capable of narrowing or widening the fabric as it is being knitted. It is an object of this invention to operate a lace point on a full fashioned machine to shift yarn loops on needles in such a way that subsequent knitting will produce a cable stitch, and to provide mechanism on-the machine that will automatically operate the lace point to obtain this result. Whenever a lace point is made to shift a yarn loop from one needle to another, the knitting is stopped and then resumed after the loop has been shifted. According to the invention, the lace point is caused to make several successive shifts of yarn loops from one needle to another before the resumption of knitting. Special equipment has been provided on the knitting machine to operate the lace point in that manner to bring about the desired result as hereinafter more fully described.

For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following description thereof, and to the drawings, of which FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a unit of a multi-unit, full fashioned knitting machine, showing the mechanisms provided for practicing the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a section, on a larger scale, on the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 2a is a fragmentary plan view of some of the machine parts seen as indicated by the line 2a-2a in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged perspective view of part of the mechanism shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE'4 is an exploded perspective view, on a larger scale, of two of the members shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of one of the members shown in FIGURE 4, but from another angle;

FIGURE 5a, 5b and 50 show, on a smaller scale, the members illustrated in FIGURE 4 mutually engaged in different relative positions of operation;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the auxiliary pattern chain and related mechanism shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURES 7 to 24 are schematic representations of a lace point and a group of knitting needles, showing the successive steps of loop-shifting;

FIGURE 25 is an elevation of a fabric knitted on a full fashioned machine; and

Patented June 21, 1966 FIGURE 26 is a front elevation of a sweater with a cable stitch knitted on a full fashioned machine.

The full fashioned knitting machine herein described and illustrated on some of the drawings is for the most part similar to that shown and described in US. Letters Patent No. 2,182,220 granted to G. Bitzer December 5,

1939. Reference is made to that patent for an understanding of such parts of the machine as are not shown or not described herein.

To form a true cable stitch, the yarn loops on a plurality of consecutive needles forming a band of wales must be exchanged for the yarn loops on a plurality of adjacent consecutive needles forming another band of wales. To accomplish this mechanically on a full fashioned machine, it is necessary to transfer the loops by successive loop-shifting operations of a single lace point. The successive loop-shifting steps performed by a lace point 30 on a group of five consecutive needles A, B, C, D and E are indicated in FIGURES 7-24 of the drawings, the letters, a, b, c, d and e being used to identify the loops of yarn which are shifted from one needle to another. When the cable stitch is about to be begun, the knitting is stopped and the lace point 30 is moved down to pick up the loop 0 from the middle needle C of the group indicated in FIG- URES 7-24. This loop is transferred (FIGURE 8) to the needle D which thereupon holds the two loops 0, d, the needle C being denuded. The subsequent shifts are always to a denuded needle as follows:

2nd shift, loop b from B to C 3rd shift, loop a from A to B 4th shift, loops 0, d from D to A 5th shift, loop b from C to D 6th shift, loop a from B to C 7th shift, loop e from E to B 8th shift, loop b from D to E 9th shift, loop a from C to D a The result of these shifts is the location of the loops as illustrated in FIGURE 24, the loops c, d, e being on the needles A, B; the loops a, b being on the needles D, E. Knitting is then resumed for a few courses, forming the diagonal over-and-under crossing of the groups of wales represented by the shifted loops. Then the knitting is stopped and the loop-shifting sequence repeated as described. This results in a true cable stitch, the test being that an object like a pencil can be thrust between the overand-underlying crossed groups of wales to show that the groups are physically separate where they cross.

The movements of the lace point 30 to make the nine shifts of loops described require mechanism for (a) moving the lace point down and up to take a loop of yarn from a needle or to deposit a loop on a needle, and (b) shifting the lace point predetermined distances to the right or left, the distances being one or more needle spaces. The dipping is done by a contoured cam 40 on the main cam shaft C which acts through a cam follower 42 carried by a lever 44 which is connected through links 46 to a front narrowing shaft 48. This shaft is carried by arms 50 which extend from a rear narrowing shaft 52 journalled in brackets 54 on the main frame F of the machine. When knitting is in progress, the cam follower 42 runs on a circular cam 56 next to the contoured cam 4h. The narrowing shaft 48 carries a series of brackets 53 through which slidably extend narrowing rods 60, 62, a picot point rod 64 and a lace point rod 66. These rods extend the entire length of the machine. On the lace point rod 66 a bracket 68 is secured over each unit of the machine. Each bracket 68 grips a lace point 30 and holds it over one of the needles 70 of its unit so that when the follower 42 rides onto a low portion of the cam 40, the lace points 30 are dipped for engagement with the needles '70 directly beneath them and are at once it to the right.

raised as the follower rides to the higher portion of the cam 40.

It is evident from the diagram shown in FIGURES 7-24 that the lace points 30 must be shifted laterally to engage any one of the five needles below them. When the lace point is to be moved to a position over a selected needle, it is first shifted to its extreme position to the right, then is pulled back toward the left until stopped at the desired location by stops which are varied according to the position desired for the lace point.

To shift the lace points to the extreme right, a cam head '72 (FIGURE 1) is pushed up by a linkage 74 actuated by a cam follower 76 which rides on a circular cam 78 carried bya cam shaft C during knitting operations but on a contoured cam 80 when the cam shaft C is shogged. When the cam head 72 is raised it cams a slide 82 to the right. The slide has a face plate 84 which bears against an end of the lace point rod 66 and pushes The rod 66 is biased toward the left by a spring (not shown) and carries all of the lace points 30. The cam head is at once lowered, whereupon the rod is shifted byits spring toward the left to the selected position for dipping the lace points. Mechanism for stopping the rod at the selected location is illustrated in FIGURE 3. A collar 86 on the rod 66 bears against a member 88 through which the rod is slidable. The member 88 depends from a slide 90 which slides in a way behind a stationary plate 82 and carries a platform 94. Movements of the slide 90 toward the left are against the pull of a spring 95. On the platform is mounted a post 96 which carries a non-rotatable disk 98 in a vertical plane. On the face of the disk 98 are two sets of three buttons 100, 102, 104 which are respectively high, medium and low. Opposite to the disk 98 a second disk 106 is supported for rotation and limited axial movement. On the face of the this disk which is opposite to the disk 98 there are two similar cams 103 which bear against one or another of the buttons of the respective sets of buttons on the disk 98. As hereinafter described, these buttons determine the direction and distance of shift of the lace points 30 after they have picked up loops of yarn from selected needles. The disk 106 is secured to a member 110 from the opposite end of which a finger 112 projects. When the platform 94 moves toward the left with disks 98 and 106, the finger 112 engages one of a number of buttons 114 carried by a chain 116. The buttons 114 are of different lengths and the one which is in line with the finger 112 when the platform moves to the left is a factor in determining which needle the lace point will be aligned with when it is dipped to pick up a loop of yarn for transfer. Immediately after a yarn loop has been picked up, the lace point 30 is shifted one needle space to the right or three needle spaces to the left as indicated in FIGURES 8, and others. This is done by rotative movement of the cam disk 106 to cause the cams 108 to move from their normal position of contact with the medium buttons 102 to contact either with the high buttons 100 or with the low buttons 104. Since at that time the finger 112 is pressing against one of the buttons 114 on the chain 116, the disk 106 cannot move to the left. Hence a change of the cams 108 from contact with the medium buttons 102 to contact with the high buttons pushes the platform 94 and the lace points 30 one needle-space toward the right, as indicated in FIGURES 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 22 and 24. When the disk 106 is turned to move the cams 108 from contact with the medium buttons 102 to contact with the low buttons 104, the platform 94 and the lace points 30 are permitted to be moved by the rod 66 three needle spaces to the left as indicated in FIGURES 14 and 20.

The top pattern chain 116 passes around two sprocket wheels 118 and 120, the former being driven step by step to bring successive buttons 114 into line with the finger 112, the wheel 120 being an idler. Coaxial with the sprocket wheel 118 and rotatable therewith is a ratchet wheel 122 which is advanced step by step by a pawl 124. The pawl 124 is pivoted on a pin 126 which projects downward for engagement by a horizontal pin 128 carried by a lever 130 rockably mounted on the shaft 48. The pin 128 connects the lever 130 to the clevis end of an arm 132 which is rocked by a cam follower 134 through a linkage comprising members 136, 138 and 140. The cam follower 134 runs on a contoured cam 142 ora circular cam 144, both of which are mounted on the cam shaft C.

Rotative movements of the cam disk 106 to shift the lace points 30 to the right or left are obtained by reciprocation of a rod 146 which is operatively connected to cam followers 148 and 150 by a linkage comprising a lever 152, a rod 154 and a lever 156. The followers 148 and 150 are mounted on the same pin at the lower end of the lever 156 and engage one or another of three cams 158, 160, 162 which are mounted on the cam shaft C. Normally the follower 148 rides on the cam which is circular. When the cam shaft C is shogged or when the follower 148 is shifted slightly to the left, the follower runs on the contoured cam 158 which has a high portion equal to the radius of the circular cam 160. When the follower 148 engages the low portion of the cam 158, the rod 146, which is connected to the cam disk 106 by a pivot pin 164 and a radial arm 166 projecting from the disk, is moved to rock the disk 106 in the direction to cause the cams 108 to move from the medium buttons 102 to the low buttons 104, this resulting in a shift of the lace points 30 to the left.

To shift the lace points 30 to the right, the follower 150, which is normally free from engagement with a cam, is shifted further to the left, as seen in FIGURE 1, to bring it into engagement with the cam 162, the follower 148 being shifted to the left of and out of contact with the cam 158. The cam 162 has a portion with the same radius as the circular cam 160 and a portion with a greater radius. When the follower 150 rides on this portion of greater radius, its outward movement acts through the linkage connecting it with the disk 106 to move the cams 108 from the medium buttons 102 to the high buttons 100, thus camming the platform 94 and hence the lace points 30 to the right.

The followers 148 and 150 are shifted by a fork 168 on the end of a lever 170 which is rocked by another lever 172 an end of which is engaged between collars 174 on a rod 176 which extends along the front of the machine to a lever 178. The rod 176 is biased toward the right by a spring 180 but is moved to the left by the lever 178 when rocked by a lever 182. The lever 182 is actuated by the engagement of a feeler 184 at an end thereof with one of the buttons 186 on an auxiliary pattern chain 188. This pattern chain is advanced in the usual manner to bring successive buttons 186 into contact with the feeler 184 to rock the lever 182 counterclockwise and the lever 178 clockwise. This moves the rod 176 to the left and the cam followers 148 and 150 to the left. A low button 186 shifts the followers 148 and 150 slightly to the left to bring the follower 148 into contact with the contoured cam 158, this resulting in the lace points 30 being shifted to the left. A high button 186 shifts the followers further to the left to bring the follower 150 into contact with the cam 162, this resulting in the lace points 30 being shifted to the rightv The buttons 189 act through one of the feelers 184 as an alternative means for causing the mechanism for dipping the lace points 30 to operate.

The narrowing or widening of the fabric is done by mechanism which is necessarily a part of a full fashioned machine and is well known in the industry. This mechanism includes point combs 190 mounted on the narrowing rods 60 and 62 and operated to pick up yarn loops from groups of needles and shift the loops in one direction or the other.

Conventional narrowing is shown at 192 on the knitted piece 194 illustrated in FIGURE 25. This piece also includes a cable stitch in which a group of wales 196 are made to cross over a second group 198, the first group being separate from the second group which extends diagonally under the first group. This result is obtained by shifting loops of yarn as hereinbefore described, knitting being resumed for a few courses before the loopshifted sequence is repeated. In'the sample illustrated, the cable stitch is made to stand out from the area of plain knitting by holding out of action a needle on each side of the group employed for making the cable stitch. FIGURE 26 shows how the cable stitch appears at 200 in a complete knitted sweater 202. The front panels of the sweater are narrowed as at 204. In each of the specimens illustrated in FIGURES 25 and 26, a true cable stitch is formed in which the diagonally crossed groups of wales are separate from each other so that a small rod can be thrust freely between them.

We claim: 1. A method of initiating a cable stitch in a knitte fabric on a full fashioned knitting machine which has a row of needles and a lace point adapted to transfer a loop of yarn from one needle to another, said method comprising causing the lace point to operate on a group of five consecutive needles, one at a time, during a pause in the knitting operation to transfer the yarn loops originally n the third and fourth needles to the first needle, and the yarn loops originally on the first, second and fifth needles of the group to the fourth, fifth and second needles, respectively, then resuming the knitting operation.

2. A method of initiating a cable stitch in a knitted fabric on a full fashioned knitting machine which has a row of needles and a lace point adapted to transfer a loop of yarn from one needle to another, said method comprising causing the lace point to operate on a group of five consecutive needles, one at a time, during a pause in the knitting operation, to make loop transfers from and to the following needles in the order stated: third needle to fourth, second needle to third, first needle to second, fourth needle to first, third needle to fourth, second needle to third, fifth needle to second, fourth needle to fifth, and third needle to fourth, then resuming the knitting operation.

3. In a full fashioned knitting machine, knitting mechanism including needles, means for operating said needles to knit successive courses, and means for interrupting the knitting, a lace point adapted to transfer yarn loops from one needle to another during an interruption of the knitting, mechanism for dipping said lace point, means for causing said dipping mechanism to operate nine times during a single interruption, and means for causing said lace point to shift to the right after each of the first three dips, to the left after the fourth dip, to the right after the fifth and sixth dips, to the left after the seventh dip, and to, the right after the eighth and ninth dips.

4. Mechanism as described in claim 3, said mechanism including a pattern chain with two rows of buttons thereon, means controlled by the buttons in one of said rows for causing the lace point to dip, and means controlled by the buttons of the other row for causing the lace point to shift to the right or left according to the height of the successive buttons in said other row.

5. Mechanism as described in claim 4, said mechanism also including control means for causing the transfer to the right to be for one needle space and the transfer to the left to be for three needle spaces.

6. A method of knitting a cable stitch consisting of two bands of wales spaced apart by one intermediate needle and crossed one over the other between two successive courses of knitting on a full fashioned cotton-type knitting machine having means for transferring a yarn loop from a needle and depositing it on another needle in the vicinity of the denuded needle, which comprises transferring the yarn loop on said intermediate needle in one direction to the next needle to overlie the wale loop of one of said bands on said next needle, transferring in succession in the same direction onto each denuded needle the yarn loop from the needle next to it until all of the terminal wale loops in the other said band have been transferred, then transferring in the opposite direction from the needle having two loops thereon said two loops to the denuded needle, again transferring successively in the first said direction the loops of the other said band, transferring in the opposite direction to the denuded needle the next wale loop of the first said band and continuing this sequence until the last wale loop of said first band has been transferred in said opposite direction and the loops of said other band have been shifted in the first said direction to vacate said intermediate needle, then knitting a course.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,220,781 11/1940 Clauss 6:6198 2,340,664 2/ 1944 Holmes et a1. 66-198 2,716,877 9/ 1955 Wickardt 6696 3,004,415 10/1961 Golaski 66-96 3,100,975 8/1963 Brown et al 6696 DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

RUSSELL C. MA-DER, Examiner.

P. C. FAW, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A METHOD OF INITIATING A CABLE STITCH IN A KNITTED FABRIC ON A FULL FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINE WHICH HAS A ROW OF NEEDLES AND A LACE POINT ADAPTED TO TRANSFER A LOOP OF YARN FROM ONE NEEDLE TO ANOTHER, SAID METHOD COMPRISING CAUSING THE LACE POINT TO OPERATE ON A GROUP OF FIVE CONSECUTIVE NEEDLES, ONE AT A TIME, DURING A PAUSE IN THE KNITTING OPERATION TO TRANSFER THE YARN LOOPS ORIGINALLY ON THE THIRD AND FOURTH NEEDLES TO THE FIRST NEEDLE, AND THE YARN LOOPS ORIGINALLY ON THE FIRST, SECOND AND FIFTH NEEDLES OF THE GROUP TO THE FOURTH, FIFTH AND SECOND NEEDLES, RESPECTIVELY, THEN RESUMING THE KNITTING OPERATION. 